The Epidemic development team has announced the availability of the second beta release of Epidemic GNU/Linux 3.2, a Brazilian desktop Linux distribution based on Debian's testing branch. Besides fixing bugs and adding polish, the developers have also includes a number of interesting new features: the ePendrive module of Systemsettings now includes an option that asks the user where to save changes while running in live mode; new page layout for eAsy Channel information, now written in XHTML; redesign of the eCommunity user interface which now includes a ranking system based on collaboration made by the members; improvements in support for proprietary ATI and NVIDIA video cards; the LXDE desktop, first included in beta 1, comes with many improvements for better integration with the distribution; following a number of requests, Synaptic and Gdebi-KDE are once again included as package management options. For more information please see the release announcement (in Portuguese). Download: epidemic-3.2-b2-1-i686.iso (861MB, MD5).

Epidemic GNU/Linux is a Brazilian desktop Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux. Its main features are the KDE desktop, easy-to-use installer, 3D desktop features with CompizFusion, use of the GFXBoot bootloader, out-of-the-box support for numerous proprietary and non-free kernel drivers, and support for a variety of media codecs.

Version 4.0 of Epidemic GNU/Linux has been released. Epidemic is a Debian-based Brazilian desktop Linux distribution featuring the KDE desktop and a number of user-friendly enhancements. Some of the custom applications in this 64-bit only release include: eMod - a graphical utility for creating a custom build of Epidemic; eUpgrade - a graphical tool designed to perform a full system upgrade; eKwin - an application which allows single-click enabling or disabling of KWin effects; Einstaller - the distribution's intuitive system installer. The release also comes with newly added support for German (besides Portuguese, English and Spanish); new user manual; an integrated theme for GRUB, Plymouth, KDM and KSplash; Linux kernel 3.2.23. Read the full release announcement (in Portuguese) for more details and screenshots. Download the live DVD image from here: epidemic-4.0-2-amd64.iso (1,479MB, MD5).

Epidemic GNU/Linux 3.2, a Brazilian desktop distribution based on Debian's "testing" branch, has been released. New features in this version include: eMorph - a new utility which serves as a second system installation step and which allows users to install or remove selected sets of programs, extending or reducing the functionality of the system with just a few mouse clicks; eUpgrade - a new tool which makes it easy to upgrade the distribution to a newer version from the comfort of a graphical application; ePendrive - a utility that allows the user to save changes made to the distribution while running it from a USB storage device; improved, beginner-friendly installer written in C++ and Qt.... Read the detailed release announcement (in Portuguese) to find out more about the release. Download the live DVD image supporting Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish and English languages from here: epidemic-3.2-1-i686.iso (1,039MB, MD5).

Epidemic GNU/Linux 3.1, a user-friendly Brazilian distribution (with support for Portuguese and English) based on Debian's testing branch, has been released. The focus of this minor update was on correcting bugs and polishing the system, but there have been also some important additions, such as a new boot option that allows booting directly from an ISO image located on a hard disk, speed improvements in the boot process with elimination of text messages, integration of ESU (a user-friendly authentication module developed in-house) with KNotification, switch to GRUB 2 as the default bootloader, update to KDE 4.3 with Compiz Fusion available directly from the live DVD, major system installer enhancements and other improvements. Please read the complete release announcement (in Portuguese) for further details. Download the live DVD image from here: epidemic-3.1-1-i686.iso (1,692MB, MD5).

The Epidemic development team has announced the availability of the third beta release of Epidemic GNU/Linux 3.1, a Brazilian Debian-based desktop distribution with KDE and out-of-the box support for popular graphics drivers, media codecs and 3D desktop effects. The focus of the development effort since beta 2 was on correcting bugs and polishing the system, but there have been also some important additions, such as a new boot option that allows booting directly from an ISO image located on a hard disk, speed improvements in the boot process with elimination of text messages, and integration of ESU (a user-friendly authentication module developed in-house) with KNotification. Please see the full release announcement (in Portuguese) which lists all the main new features and additions in this version. Download the live DVD image from here: epidemic-3.1-b3-1-i686.iso (1,560MB, MD5).

The second beta build of Epidemic Linux 3.1, a Debian-based Brazilian distribution for the desktop, has been released. Improvements in this release include: replacement of bootsplash by Plymouth; significant reduction of boot time; new boot options for systems with NVIDIA and ATI graphics cards; support for legacy NVIDIA drivers; introductory support for English as the first step towards greater internationalisation of Epidemic's utilities; inclusion of Esu, a new tool that gives system administrators a choice of user authentication methods for performing privileged tasks; replacement of GRUB with GRUB 2; ext4 becomes the default file system; i686-optimised Linux kernel 2.6.30; KDE 4.3 with Compiz Fusion; installer improvements.... Read the full release announcement (in Portuguese) for further details and some screenshots. Interested beta testers can download the live DVD image from here: epidemic-3.1-b2-1-i686.iso (1,637MB, MD5).

The first beta build of Epidemic GNU/Linux 3.1, a Brazilian desktop distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux, is now available for testing. While the development of this new version has largely concentrated on fixing bugs and adding polish, it also brings a handful of new features, including: ESU, a new graphical application that gives the system administrator a choice in user authentication for tasks that require superuser privileges; introduction of GRUB 2 as the default bootloader and ext4 as the default file system; new kernel (version 2.6.29) with the bootsplash patch and support for proprietary graphics drivers and popular wireless cards; update to KDE 4.3 with Compiz Fusion and 3D desktop effects. Read the release announcement (in Portuguese) for further information. Download: epidemic-3.1-b1-1-i686.iso (1,504MB, MD5).

Renata Heleno has announced the release of Epidemic GNU/Linux 3.0, a Brazilian desktop distribution based on Debian's testing branch and featuring KDE 4. This is a major new release with the following enhancements: introduction of KDE 4.2.1 as the default desktop; integration of KDE's system settings into Epidemic's control panel; various improvements to Easy Channel, the distribution's graphical package installation tool; improved network configuration utility, Enetwork, with support for software modems; Ependrive, a new tool that allows users to save or discard changes made during a live USB drive session; a redesigned Einstaller with new functions, such as the ability to create a live USB media or an option to keep or discard changes made during the live DVD session. Please visit the distribution's home page (in Portuguese) to read the release announcement and to view some screenshots. Download (MD5): epidemic-3.0-1-i686.iso (1,438MB).

The second beta release of Epidemic GNU/Linux 3.0, a Debian-based desktop distribution from Brazil, is now available for download and testing. Besides having fixed many of the bugs reported by beta testers, this build includes some important updates, such as: Linux kernel 2.6.26, KDE 4.2, OpenOffice.org 3.0 and Iceweasel 3.0; pre-configured Compiz Fusion; several new system administration modules, including Enetwork for network configuration, Easy Channel that provides a one-click method for installing proprietary device drivers, multimedia codecs and non-free software, and Ependrive which allows saving changes made during a live session to a USB storage device; various improvements to the Einstaller; dramatic reduction in boot times. Visit the project's home page to read the complete release announcement (in Portuguese). The installable live DVD is available for download (MD5) from here: epidemic-3.0-b2-3-i686.iso (1,339MB).